Not dead yet...

Well, this blog has been dead for far too long, but I'm going to try to give it some CPR. If you haven't noticed already, I've been spending most of my time writing about the CFL over at 55-Yard Line; unfortunately, that's combined with a bunch of my other writing projects to keep me away from here for a while. No longer, though! I can't commit to a regular schedule yet, but I'm hoping to post some sports musings here at least several times each week. If you want to know when something new's going up, follow me on Twitter or Facebook; the Twitter feed's got plenty of my sports thoughts that aren't long enough to make real posts, while the Facebook one's basically just my posts. You can also subscribe to the RSS feed of Sporting Madness posts here. Anyway, thank you for your patience, and my sincere apologies for the prolonged absence; I'll do my best to keep posting things here more consistently down the road.

Back to the grind

Apologies for the lack of posting here lately; I've been swamped at the day job and then spent last weekend snowboarding in Vernon, so I haven't had a lot of time to blog. I did get a new piece up at Canuck Puck on how the team's loss to Detroit Saturday night isn't as bad as it looks, so you can check that out if you haven't already. Also, a note to Vancouver (and area) readers; I'm planning to attend the official Canucks Tweetup tomorrow night, so if you're there, say hi! Anyway, we should be back to your regularly scheduled madness shortly; I've got a bunch of CIS thoughts on the way, as well as several professional sports posts set for this week. Until then, enjoy some Skid Row:

Live blogs, links and programming notes

Work unfortunately got in the way of writing here again, so I haven't been around for a while. That should hopefully change in the next little while, and the first item in the line is a live blog; I'll be live-blogging the Vancouver Whitecaps - Rochester Rhinos game tonight from the press box at Swangard, and then should have a post-game piece up tomorrow. Kickoff is at 10 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Pacific, so come join me here (or at The 24th Minute or Epic Footy] then! In other programming notes, the daily Link Trains will return Monday and I should hopefully have a few original pieces up here this week as well. Until then, here's some links to my stuff and the best of the Interwebs from the past week, as well as some music.

Video of the Day: Spirit of the West - Home for a Rest



A classic party song from a Vancouver band. Many people have probably heard this one in bars or clubs without any idea of who it's from, but the band's actually pretty good and quite well-known out here on the West Coast. I saw them play live at a New Year's Eve concert in Surrey a few years ago, and they put on a great show. Excellent music for your weekend.

My Links:

- A take on Vancouver trading for Christian Ehrhoff and Brad Lukowich [Canuck Puck].

- I explored if sharks should really be trading with orcas, threw in some music and added links in last night's Last Call post [The Rookies].

- My weekly Phoenix Pub column looked at the history, value, rules, teams and alumni of the CFL this week [The Phoenix Pub].

- Also on the CFL front, this week's edition of my weekly column, The Whole 110 Yards, featured the Blue Bombers' destruction of the Lions, a look back at the Las Vegas Posse and a take on Kerry "The Barber" Watkins [The Rookies].

- I was a guest on this week's episode (Episode 6) of The Phoenix Pubcast. We spent an hour discussing the CFL, its significance and how the various teams are doing this year. You can download the episode here [The Phoenix Pubcast].

- At my day job, I interviewed Vancouver Giants' general manager Scott Bonner about the team's training camp so far this year, their search for a more physical identity and the success of highly-touted prospects David Musil (projected as a possible top-five NHL draft pick in 2011) and Kevin Connauton (a NCAA star drafted by the Canucks in the third round last year) [The South Delta Leader].

- Not sports, but I got to write a couple of interesting news pieces this week as well. This one looked at if the Point Roberts-Tsawwassen border needs extra security in the wake of the Ryan Jenkins (the international fugitive found dead in Hope) incident, and this cover story looked at the potential expansion of beekeeping into residential zones.

The Best of the Intertubes:

Baseball:

- Great stuff from Brian on the Jays' season so far [Fallen Leafs].

- Joe Posnanski on why this year's Royals may be the worst ever [JoeBlog].

- Ian Hunter looks at North Van native Scott Richmond's performance this season. Richmond remains the only member of the Blue Jays I've interviewed, so I'm obviously rooting for him [Blue Jay Hunter].


Football:

- Samer has video and analysis of Alex Smith hitting Greg Ellis. That's right, a quarterback hit a defensive end. Trying to impress Mike Singletary? [Second-String Fullback].

- Looking at the best four years of the NFL's top running backs [Behind The Steel Curtain].

- Is Chad Henne the long-term solution for the Dolphins at QB? [The Phinsider].

- The University of Wisconsin is ending beer company sponsorships on their radio broadcasts in a fight against binge drinking. Yeah, that will work. [The Gally Blog].


Basketball:

- Analyzing the Raptors' off-season moves [Heels on Hardwood].

- Very interesting stuff from Kevin Arnovitz looking back at the debate around the construction of Madison Square Garden and the importance of architectural preservation [TrueHoop].

- Michael Jordan v. Kenny Rogers [Ball Don't Lie].


Hockey:

- James Mirtle's take on the Canucks' trade [From The Rink].

- Sean Zandberg looks at the new Canucks [Nucks Misconduct].

- Alex Tanguay may or may not be a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning [Puck Daddy].


Soccer:

- Jason Davis looks at the American company leading Russia's World Cup bid [Match Fit USA].

- Previewing Barcelona's season [Unprofessional Foul].

- Could Orlando regain a USL-1 franchise? [Soucie On Soccer].

Thanks as always for reading. Full Link Trains will return Monday. Remember to stop by tonight for the live blog!

Centre field

Well, I'm off for the weekend for a softball tournament, so things will be light around here for a little while. I should be back with fresh content Monday, and I've got plenty planned for next week, including my thoughts on the latest developments in the Phoenix Coyotes' case, a few thoughts on ESPN's Twitter policy, a post on how Rogers' approach to the Blue Jays is all wrong, more interviews from my The Good Point piece and much more. Until then, here's a couple links to other pieces I wrote this week that you may not have seen and a few things from around the web.

- The initial instalment of my new weekly CFL column, The Whole 110 Yards, over at The Rookies.

- My weekly The Phoenix Pub column focused on the success of the B.C. Premier Baseball League this week.

- A piece I wrote at Canuck Puck on the elevation Mike Gillis to president and general manager.

- James Mirtle has a good take on the Coyotes' mess [From The Rink].

- Why The Denver Post thinks JR Smith's associated with The Bloods [Style Points]

- Eyebleaf pays tribute to Jeremy Roenick [Sports and the City]

- Skating Tomato on why the Michael Crabtree saga shows the problems with the NFL's rookie contracts [The Rookies].

- Check out BC Lions Den for everything on tonight's Lions-Riders matchup.

Here's some music to get you in a baseball mood for the weekend. Play me off, John Fogerty!

On the road, and a take on Andrew Raycroft

I'm on the road down in Washington State this weekend, so posting will be a bit scarce. Catching the Mariners - Rangers game later today, though, which should be a lot of fun. Anyways, I did manage to complete a Canuck Puck take on the Andrew Raycroft signing: check it out! I'll be back with plenty more sports coverage here in the next few days.

I'm back!

Apologies for the horribly long absence; I had to spend most of the past week preparing for a move and then flew across the country yesterday. I'm back in the blogging saddle now, though, and have plenty of stuff planned here for the next few days. Until then, here's a link to two of the pieces I've managed to write in the meantime and some other pieces I've enjoyed reading recently.

- A piece I wrote Monday at Canuck Puck on the Canucks' involvement in free agent rumours and laying out my blueprint for Vancouver's free-agency moves.
- A piece analyzing the top 10 picks of the NHL draft I co-wrote over at The Rookies.
- An interesting piece by First Derivative over at The Phoenix Pub on why the acquisition of Marian Hossa may hurt the Blackhawks thanks to the length of his deal.
- Neate has a breakdown of the CFL players from the CIS ranks over at Out of Left Field.
- A great piece from Joe Posnanski on the Royals' problems handling injuries.

Thanks for putting up with me during this absence! We now return you to your regularly scheduled Sporting Madness programming.

Back in the saddle

Apologies for the ridiculously long absence: I've had to crank out 45 pages of essays in the last couple of weeks in addition to my normal work at the paper, so I haven't felt like writing much in the little downtime I've had. School's almost done for the term, though, and I don't have much Journal work to do until January, so I should be able to get more done here. Expect several posts today with more to come on the weekend. Thanks for sticking around here, and apologies again for the lack of content lately.
- Andrew

Apologies for the absence

I've been away from this blog for a horribly long time, thanks to the crazy last couple of weeks, so sincere apologies to all of you who bother to read my blabberings. In addition to my usual writing and editing duties for the Journal, Out of Left Field and The CIS Blog [note: that one, a review of the CIS soccer championships, might actually be worth taking a look at], I've had to deal with four massive history papers and presentations in the last week (on such various topics as the actions of General Motors under the Nazi regime, the Byzantine Empire's relationship with Russia and the significance of the printing press to the German Reformation), so my brain has been pretty fried. Anyway, things should hopefully get back to a slightly more normal posting pace around here, and I'll do my best to keep up with it. Thanks for putting up with the absence!